Fighting Hemang Badani guides Vidarbha to 219 vs Baroda

Many might have forgotten Hemang Badani as the always-on-the-brink-of-Indian-team player and Shalabh Shrivastava might have lost all respect with his 'fixing' allegations but nothing stopped both of them to rescue Vidarbha against Baroda on Day 1.

Vadodara: Veteran Hemang Badani scored a fighting unbeaten 84 while Shalabh Shrivastava made a sedate 63 to help Vidarbha post 219 for eight against Baroda on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match on Friday.

Badani's patient 84 came off 221 balls while Shrivastava faced 129 deliveries during his impressive knock.

Badani stitched two crucial partnerships -- first 97 runs with Shrivastava and then 53 with Amol Jungade for the ninth wicket -- to take Vidarbha past the 200-run mark after the visitors' lost their top three batsmen early.

Sent into bat, Vidarbha's Faiz Fazal, Aniruddha Chore and former India opener Shiv Sundar Das failed to give their team a good start as they slumped to 16 for three.

Shrivastava's knock came to an end when he was cleaned up by Firdaus Bhaja. He crafted his innings with 11 boundaries.

After Shrivastava's dismissal, experienced Badani held his ground but wickets kept tumbling at the other end until he found an able partner in No. 10 Jangade, who ended the day unbeaten on 27 that came off 57 balls.